GAWKER! RYAN! Seriously, you guys need to spearhead a Facebook boycott day, where everyone deactivates their accounts for 24 or 48 hours. That will send a message that users are still in control of whether they use Facebook or not. You guys reach millions of people. You could do it.
If you don't do it, we're all just sitting around posting status updates while Zuckerberg gets richer and richer. Let's make him one of those tech burnouts instead.
Please don't anyone act surprised, no matter what fancy names we give these services; MySpace, Facebook etc..
In the end these are data mining companies, privacy is an obstacle for them.
Sooner or later this was bound to happen. Richard Stallmann has been warning about this for years, that moving to cloud based services will lead to immoral usage policies.
This is yet another day where I am happy that I never touched any of these "networking" sites.
@Coolmodo: Amen my friend. These sites are so freaking toxic and people just. don't. get. it.
I've never understood the notion of puking ones entire life on the web. The scary thing is that to me, it blatantly shows that we have become a society that is so connected that we have become absolutely disconnected. Can you "really" be a 'true' friend to 500 people? Or, are you and your 500 friends just voyeurs in each other's stupid existence? It's all really fucking sad.
Although...I have wrestled with the idea of creating a page just so I can post "Takin' a poop" multiple times a day...
@not_a_virus.exe.vbs:
You mean you're OK with having that neighbor/coworker/distant relative you can't stand spam you (and your friends) with inane/offensive/whatever posts on FB as well as those times you have to talk to them in RL?
@Alfisted: Dude? Are you for serious? You remember all those drunk, embarrassing pictures you took last night? Well of course you don't. But now half of your family does, and that weird kid that sat next to you freshman year does, and so does that cute girl that was interested in you(not so much anymore), and so does your boss, o and your neighbor. Why wouldn't you want one?
Hmmm, I deleted my myspace account a couple of months ago. Maybe I should go back? I wonder if this is an attempt by Facebook to reignite the competition, since they basically have none now that myspace all but bowed down to FB. I'm not sure I can go back to the stupid backgrounds, loud videos and music that immediately start when you access a profile, and the constant adbot friend requests though.
I am having a bit of trouble figuring out why everyone is freaking out about all of this. The fact of the matter is, you are involved in an online community, and as a result, you and other community members are posting information about you and pictures (presumably) of you online. That means that they are out there in the digital world, like not private anymore. If you are so damned concerned about privacy, how about this? GET THE FUCK OFF FACEBOOK! For the love of god people, if you don't want your boss to know that you are involved in interspecies erotica or some ridiculous shit like that, then don't live your life online. It's not rocket science we are talking here!
@CJ Disaffected: This is how I feel, too. The idea that there is any such thing as "privacy" on the internet is both silly and deceptive. Don't put anything in writing that you wouldn't want published in the newspaper, or some such cliche, right? Don't put it on Facebook, either.
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Edited by Better to Eat You With at 12/16/09 5:52 PM
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@Better to Eat You With: the whole point of Facebook used to be that it was private. That's why you had to friend people, and there were privacy settings. Way back in the day, only college students could use it - remember that? Probably not.
I have just deactivated my account, which I've had for over 5 years, because now I have no control over whether things other people post show up on my wall. I do value my privacy and am/was very careful about what I posted. I do not want to live in a panopticon.
@CJ Disaffected: Technically of course you are right, however, one of the things that attracted people to Facebook (vs. MySpace, for example) was the relative privacy it did offer. Yes, there is no such thing as *complete* privacy on the internet, however, Facebook seemed to offer a safer haven, where people had control over what information about themselves would be visible, and to whom, etc. Now they are slowly eroding that. That's the problem.
@CJ Disaffected: I've been stalked. I shouldn't have to delete myself from humanity just because my ex-boyfriend is a loser who hasn't moved on six years later...
@CJ Disaffected: I take issue with the fact that they are taking things that were private when I first put them up (e.g. friends list, profile pic, fan pages) and now retroactively making them not private. It's not what I signed up for, you know?
I also don't check Facebook all the time, so it took me a few days to realize that things that I thought were private and had in fact set up to BE private (my photos) had been made public to the world. There is nothing on Facebook that I am ashamed of or need to hide, but that doesn't mean that I am comfortable with everything being shared with the world.
@CJ Disaffected: The draw of Facebook was the limited openness of the network which gave people a comfort level using their real names. Thank the FSM I have three accounts, only one of which is really 'me.'
I just deactivated my FB account. Maybe if enough others do it too Markey Z and the crew will get the idea.
This is due primarily to the photo tagging issue. It's bad enough that I can't prohibit other people from tagging me in their photos. Now I have no choice about whether them tagging me against my will shows up on my wall as well...
Just curious - what's the big deal about #3? At worst it seems like it would be an annoyance. But how is it a privacy issue? Can't you just refuse requests from people you don't want to be "friends" with? (In case it's not obvious, I don't use Facebook.)
ETA: I guess I could see how it might be a stalker issue - if someone is trying to harass you, you wouldn't even want to have the incidental contact required to refuse the request, but other than that, is there something else?
@major disaster: For me it's not so much a privacy thing as a social-awkwardness thing. There's always "that person" at work who wants to friend you, and it can be tough to say "no," i.e. potential work-related consequences, etc.
@Dave J.: True enough. I guess that's one part of the reason I still refuse to join (with me it would be family - my mother has an account, and it's so much easier to just say I don't belong in the first place).
@Dave J.: When that happens, just leave it -- don't ignore, don't refuse, just leave it. If the person ever tries to friend you again, they will see that you haven't responded to their original request, and they'll just think you haven't looked at your friend requests in a long time. Or that you hate them.
@sanyucat: That's what I do. I think I have 8 friend requests just sitting there now, and some of them have been there for years.
FB used to really harp on you about this, but they've toned down the notification so much that I think you don't even see it anymore unless you actually go to your friends page.
@badasscat: Weird, they have never once notified me. And I have all kinds of freaks sitting in there, especially the random older gentlemen who persistently friend me out of what I can only assume is a misguided belief that friending strangers on Facebook may result in a sexual encounter.
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12/17/09
If you don't do it, we're all just sitting around posting status updates while Zuckerberg gets richer and richer. Let's make him one of those tech burnouts instead.
12/17/09
12/17/09
12/17/09
12/17/09
12/17/09
In the end these are data mining companies, privacy is an obstacle for them.
Sooner or later this was bound to happen. Richard Stallmann has been warning about this for years, that moving to cloud based services will lead to immoral usage policies.
This is yet another day where I am happy that I never touched any of these "networking" sites.
12/17/09
I've never understood the notion of puking ones entire life on the web. The scary thing is that to me, it blatantly shows that we have become a society that is so connected that we have become absolutely disconnected. Can you "really" be a 'true' friend to 500 people? Or, are you and your 500 friends just voyeurs in each other's stupid existence? It's all really fucking sad.
Although...I have wrestled with the idea of creating a page just so I can post "Takin' a poop" multiple times a day...
12/17/09
12/17/09
You mean you're OK with having that neighbor/coworker/distant relative you can't stand spam you (and your friends) with inane/offensive/whatever posts on FB as well as those times you have to talk to them in RL?
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I have just deactivated my account, which I've had for over 5 years, because now I have no control over whether things other people post show up on my wall. I do value my privacy and am/was very careful about what I posted. I do not want to live in a panopticon.
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I also don't check Facebook all the time, so it took me a few days to realize that things that I thought were private and had in fact set up to BE private (my photos) had been made public to the world. There is nothing on Facebook that I am ashamed of or need to hide, but that doesn't mean that I am comfortable with everything being shared with the world.
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12/16/09
This is due primarily to the photo tagging issue. It's bad enough that I can't prohibit other people from tagging me in their photos. Now I have no choice about whether them tagging me against my will shows up on my wall as well...
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My lesbian cousin who is a school teacher keeps two accounts: a public one and a pseudonymous one for her wife and rugby friends.
12/16/09
ETA: I guess I could see how it might be a stalker issue - if someone is trying to harass you, you wouldn't even want to have the incidental contact required to refuse the request, but other than that, is there something else?
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FB used to really harp on you about this, but they've toned down the notification so much that I think you don't even see it anymore unless you actually go to your friends page.
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